BY THE TIME the football season kicks off, most teams have ceased their rigorous pre-season conditioning programs. An important issue during this period is what football players must do to keep their bodies in appropriate condition during the daily grind of the regular season.
Known as maintenance training, a coach’s goal is to keep his player’s body in quality condition. However, all of the grueling, day-after-day workouts that took place before the season, must now be modified.
Weightroom Work
The first stage of your players’ maintenance program should be to have them spend one day a week in the weightroom. One day is more then sufficient. Remember, the regular season isn’t a time when the amount of weight that a player lifts needs to be aggressively increased. If increased, it should be done in small increments. This time in the weightroom should focus on keeping up the strength that the body has built up over many months.
In a sport such as football, use either Mondays or Tuesdays as weightroom day. Working out later in the week may not give the body a full recovery before a Friday or Saturday matchup.
Have your players focus on at least four body parts — the legs, back, chest and shoulders. Going into specialization areas such as biceps and triceps can be attempted, but aren’t necessary. Little muscles can become tired out and if they’re not fully recovered, it will hamper the big muscles’ ability for peak performance. If the big muscles are taken care of during a workout, the little ones will take care of themselves for the couple of months during the season.
Anaerobic Sprinting
The second stage of the maintenance program that should be modified is anaerobic sprinting. These programs should be designed with sprints that are fewer in number than those that were performed during off-season training and training camp. Recovery time should be the most essential factor involved in all your players’ sprint work.
Sprints should be done in a regressive program, starting with Monday and decreasing in number as the week winds down. In football, which usually involves Friday or Saturday games, all types of sprinting should be cut off no later than Wednesday if it’s a Friday night game and Thursday if the game is on Saturday. It’s critical that there’s enough time for your players’ bodies to recuperate before the big game. If a player’s body is tired or sore on game day, it’s not physically possible for him to perform at maximum potential.
Resting Allows Repair
Rest is an important concept that should go along with all training programs. A player’s body doesn’t get in better condition while training — it gets in better condition during the rest-and-recovery period. If not enough resting time is allowed, an athlete’s performance will suffer and they’ll go into a mode of de-training or over-training. This is the stage where your player’s body starts to de-condition and leaves him extremely vulnerable to becoming ill.
Water Intake A Priority
Making sure that football players are properly hydrated during in-season practices and games is often overlooked. Even though the weather is much cooler during the football season, that doesn’t mean that an athlete can’t get dehydrated. Sweating is a cooling mechanism. When a player’s body doesn’t have enough fluid to adequately sweat or when an athlete excessively sweats, he can go into dehydration or overheat, which may result in a heat-related illness.
Don’t let your players wait until they’re thirsty to drink. This is the first sign of dehydration. It’s up to the coaches to fully monitor their players water intake. It can also make a difference between a winning team and a losing team.
Besides water, a sports drink such as Gatorade is a good option, especially for pre-competition or post-competition. It can help to replace sodium and electrolytes that are lost in sweat. Drinking a sports drink during physical activity may cause nausea in some athletes and water may be a better choice at that time.
It’s very important that the months of hard work that your players have put in leading up to the season not go to waste. With a form of maintenance conditioning in the weightroom, on the field, during practice drills and with plenty of rest and proper hydration, your upcoming season can become a very successful and fulfilling one.